The US Army had a considerable presence in the American Southwest.  Following the Gadsden Purchase, frontier cavalry posts were scattered  throughout the lower half of New Mexico Territory and Arizona Territory to protect American settlers and miners against Apache raids.  Many of these posts were manned by the Buffalo Soldiers, black infantry and cavalry soldiers so named because their curly hair reminded Native Americans of buffalo hair.  After the Indian Wars, these forts were abandoned one by one; of the scores of posts that were established in these two states, only Fort Huachuca remains active.  A few other posts, such as Fort Bowie, were set aside as state or national parks, but the rest have been left to the elements.

    Cavalry frontier post first established in 1862 and manned to protect the strategic pass and water source at Apache Pass, along the Butterfield Overland Mail Route.  Named for Colonel George W. Bowie, 5th California Volunteer Infantry.  These photos are of the second, more improved garrison built in 1869.  Geronimo surrendered here in 1886, and shortly thereafter the post was closed and the 2nd Cavalry troopers left this post for Colorado.  So ended the Apache Wars of the Old West.  The abandoned post was scavenged for building materials and used as grazing land by nearby ranchers until the National Park Service acquired the land in 1964.  The adobe walls were coated with a compound to preserve them against the elements and prevent further deterioration.  The colors pictured below are a replica of the 44-star American flag that flew over the post when it closed in 1894.  The graveyard is a testament to the danger of frontier life; some graves are captioned with epitaphs such as "Tortured to death by Apaches" or "Killed by Apaches."  The most prominent and best preserved ruin is the sutler's store (basically a civilian-run commissary).  The park also contains an excellent, though small, museum, as well as a reconstructed wickiup (Apache shelter) and the remnants of both the Butterfield station and the Indian agency.  The outstanding views from the 3-mile loop hike are worth the trip alone.  Cochise County Arizona.  Photographed October 2001.
 
 

North wall of the post	Remains of the sutler's store.	The officers' lounge.
The post flag, seen from the bakery.	More of the commissary.	Looking south to the center of the post.

Camp Rucker 1878-1896

    Founded as "Camp Supply" on the bank of the White River in the Chiricahua Mountains in 1878 after being moved from a location adjacent to Sherriff John Slaughter's San Bernadino Ranch near the international border.  The post was garrisoned with Apache scouts commanded by Second Lieutenant John A "Tony" Rucker and First Lieutenant John Henely.  In July 1878, a flash flood threatened supplies across the bank, and Lieutenant Henely was swept away while trying to salvage the supplies.  Lieutenant Rucker dove into the river to rescue Lieutenant Henely and was himself swept away to his death; following this incident the camp was renamed Rucker.  The camp was formally abandoned in 1880 but was intermittently remanned in the years that followed.  In 1881 it served as a field headquarters for 6th Cavalry troops pursuing Chiricahua Apaches during the Apaches' outbreak from the San Carlos Indian Reservation.  It was used again in 1886 as a heliograph relay station and later in 1896 as a base for scouting operations.  The land was used as a ranch by several families until purchased by the Forest Service in 1970.  Cochise County, Arizona.  Photographed November 2002.
 
 

Ruins of the old commissary	Officers' quarters	Inside the officers' quarters - note the raised platform for a stove
The old bakery	Barn built in the camp's ranching days

Presidio de Santa Cruz de Terrenate 1775-1780

    Not a US Army installation, but more remains of the Presidio than of many posts that postdate it by over a century.  In 1775, in an effort to protect settlers in the area from marauding Apaches, a Spanish garrison was moved from Terrenate, Mexico (south of the Patagonia Mountains and the present-day border) to a site on the San Pedro river.  56 Spanish troops began construction of the presidio on December 10, 1775, on a steep bluff overlooking the San Pedro, not far from what would eventually become the town of Tombstone.  The Apache turned ther attention from Spanish settlers to the Spanish garrison, and the fort was continually assaulted; Apaches claimed the lives of two presidial commanders and over 80 soldiers.  Finally, frontier commander Teodorio de Croix ordered the presidio be abandoned in 1780.  Although a perimeter wall, officers' quarters, a chapel, and some barracks were built, construction was hampered by the constant Apache sieges and the post was never completed according to plan.  The ruins are maintained by the Bureau of Land Management and are accessed off a trail along an abandoned railroad route.  Cochise County, Arizona.  Visited January 2003.
 
 

Remains of the commander's quarters		The chapel wall

 Newell Cantonment ca. 1916-1926

    Built in Naco in 1916 as a border garrison following Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico.  Named after John J. Newell, a prominent landowner who leased the site to the War Department for $1 a year.  The Newell Cantonment, sometimes called Fort Newell or Camp Newell, guarded the Arizona border against further incursions.  During the Punitive Expedition, cavalry troopers under the command of General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing performed the last known horse cavalry charge.  During the early days of World War I, before the completion of Newell Cantonment, troops in Naco were first based in trenches, and railroad cars, and later in a tent city at Camp Naco to the east of the cantonment.  Naco was a flashpoint during the Mexican Revolution, and battles frequently broke out just south of the border.  At one point, German mercenary machine gunners accidentally fired across the border onto the troops, but no casualties resulted.  Little history is available on this extremely well-preserved post, but I'm working on it.  Cochise County, Arizona.  Photographed November 2002 and April 2003.
 
 

The junior officers' quarters are in a row on the east side of the compund.
		This bathhouse is behind the barracks.  On my last visit, I saw someone vandalizing it for salvage metal.
Inside the barracks compound	Obviously, some buildings are not in as good shape as others.
		Storehouse (?) with the Mule Mountains visible to the north

 
 

Fort Buchanan 1856-1861

    Founded as Camp Moore, but renamed Fort Buchanan in honor of President James Buchanan.  When the Civil War broke out, Union troops were withdrawn to New Mexico; Fort Buchanan was abandoned and torched on July 21, 1861, to keep it from falling into Confederate hands.  Nothing remains.  See below for photos of Camp Crittenden, which was built near the site of Fort Buchanan.  During the construction of Camp Crittenden, solders sought refuge in the crumbling remains of Fort Buchanan until more substantial barracks were finished..

Camp Crittenden 1867-1873

    Named for Col. Thomas L. Crittenden, who commanded the 32nd Infantry at the battles of Shiloh, Stone River, and Chickamauga during the Civil War. Located at the head of Davidson Canyon, just west of present-day Sonoita, Arizona, Camp Crittenden was built adjacent to the site of Fort Buchanan.  One of the soldiers posted at Camp Crittenden, Sergeant James Brown, was awarded the Medal of Honor for successfully leading a detachment of 4 men against a superior force of Apaches.  Did he feel good? I bet he did.  Very little remains of this post; mostly crumbling adobe and mounds of earth that were once barracks walls.  Santa Cruz County, Arizona.  Photographed October 2002.
 
 

These stone walls are the most prominent ruin.  Former powderhouse, perhaps?		Corner wall of the barracks
	Foundation, with the Santa Ritas behind

Fort Bayard 1863-1900

    Named after General George D. Bayard, who died after being wounded at the Battle of Fredricksburg.  Fort Bayard was the home of "buffalo soldiers" from the 9th and 10th Cavalry.  After Geromino's surrender in 1886, the post's importance declined, due mostly to its distance from the Mexican border (Fort Huachuca, Arizona, less than 20 miles from the border, remained a hotbed of activity during the same time).  The post was deactivated as a troop garrison in 1900.  At that time, Army Surgeon General Gerorge M. Sternberg, noting the good health enjoyed by Fort Bayard troops, successfully worked to maintain the post as an Army hospital.  In 1922, Fort Bayard became a Veterans Administration hospital, and in 1966 it was transferred to New Mexico as a public nursing home.  The old post cemetery was designated as a National Cemetery on July 5, 1976.

    Much remains at Fort Bayard today, but it's anyone's guess how long it will last.  Despite its status on the National Register of Historic Places, Fort Bayard's remaining wooden buildings are obviously not as well preserved as those on Fort Huachcua, which were built in the same period and style.  There are many concrete and brick structures that have been left to collapse and crumble away.  Many of the remaining historic buildings are currently occupied by employees of the state hospital, but historic preservation is obviously low on their list of priorities; peeling paint, sagging boards, sattelite dishes, and other signs of neglect abound on the surviving structures.  It was fascinating to see the buildings, but a shame to see their condition.  Grant County, New Mexico.  Photographed January and April 2003.
 
 

Ruins of the old post incinerator	Abandoned ammunition storage bunker	?
This hilltop building still serves as nurses' quarters.	The water towers sit just behind the nurses' quarters.	Satellite dishes always make the best accessories for historic buildings.
This ruin on a hill at the top of the parade field once housed over 100 German POWs.	Post commander's quarters	Senior officer's quarters along the parade field
These smaller buildings likely post-date the fort's decommissioning.		For an interesting contrast, compare the back of this building to the front, pictured directly above.  Note the exposed adobe bricks where the stucco has fallen away.

Fort Cummings 1862-1873, 1880-1886?

    In 1846, the Mormon Battalion "discovered" Cooke's Spring (named after the battalion's commander, Colonel Phillip St. George Cooke) in the mountains near what would eventually become Fort Cummings.  The  location of the spring and the nearby pass made it a popular overland route, as well as a popular Apache ambush point.  The fort itself was established by the California Volunteers during the Civil War.  Later, Fort Cummings later became a regular Army garrison and, like Fort Bowie and other area posts, protected settlers and the Butterfield Overland Mail Route from Indian attack.  Remains of the Butterfield stage station, as well as the spring house built by the railroad, are nearby.  This post was the site of a brief mutiny in December 1867 when a camp follower was expelled for stealing money.  The fort entered caretaker status in 1873, but was reoccupied in 1880 after a band of Warm Springs Apache under Victorio bolted from the San Carlos reservation and began terrorizing southern New Mexico and western Texas.  In 1886, a test heliograph message was relayed from Fort Cummings to Tubac, Arizona, and back in four hours over a distance of nearly 300 miles.  Today, little remains of the post itself apart from the foundations of the perimeter wall and the sutler's store, which was situated outside the walls and was later used as a hospital.  The ruins are currently "maintained" by the Bureau of Land Management.  Namesake for the post is unknown.  Luna County, New Mexico.  Photographed January 2003.
 
 

The sutler's store is the best-preserved ruin on site.	Panorama of the ruins at dawn
Older stone wall away from the sutler's building, possibly the perimeter wall	Same wall, different side
Cooke's Spring house, built by the railroad	Ruins of the Butterfield stage station

Complex # 571-4 Military Reservation, 1962-1983

    A cold and technical name for a small base with a cold and technical mission.  On January 1, 1962, the 390th Strategic Missile Wing (motto: "Non Nobis Solum," or "Not For Ourselves Alone") was organized at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, and charged with establishing, manning, and maintaining eighteen Titan-II intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).  The 390th was the umbrella organization for two strategic missile squadrons, the 570th and the 571st (activated May 1, 1962), as well as support units the 390th Missile Inspection Maintenance Squadron (motto: "Peregrinamur Pro Pace," or "We Travel for Peace")  The crews of these missile silos drilled constantly under the Arizona deserts, waiting for the launch command that would send their 9-megaton warheads to their targets up to 5,500 miles away in less than 30 minutes.  The re-entry vehicles containing the warheads were manufactured by General Electric (motto: "We Bring Good Things to Life").  These missiles were designed to deliver a groundburst explosion in order to destroy "hardened military targets," such as command bunkers and other missile silos.  On impact, the blast would have been suficient to create a crater 500 feet deep and half a mile wide and destroy brick buildings up to six miles away.  As part of his missile modernization program, President Ronald Reagan ordered the deactivation of the Titan-II program by October 1, 1987.  Operation Rivet-Cap, the deactivation of Titan-II missiles and missile sites, began at Davis-Monthan AFB on October 1, 1982 and was completed in May 1984.  During Rivet-Cap, missiles were disarmed, drained of fuel, removed from their silos in sections, visibly punctured, and laid next to the silos for thirty days to permit Soviet sattelite verification of their deactivation.  The 571st was deactivated on December 2, 1983, and the 390th was deactivated on July 31, 1984.  14 Titan-II missiles were refurbished for use as conventional launch platforms for sattelites; the remaining missiles are porportedly stored at the AMARC facility at Davis-Monthan.

    One Titan-II missile silo site remains open to the public as a museum, and this one isn't it.  The remaining Titan-II sites in Arizona are either on private land or on state trust land (which is closed to the public).  At the time of my visit, Complex 571-4 contained no indication that it was off-limits to the public.  The site appears to be a popular, impromptu shooting gallery and four-wheeling destination, much like the ghost town of Sasco, Arizona.  As with the other complexes that are not museums, the silo at 571-4 was destroyed; the remaining structures include antenna silos (the three concrete cylinders), the command center (the big dome), and the access portal between the command center and the silo (the big black rectangle).  A section of the main ventilation shaft and escape tunnel also remains; though it is now filled with concrete, you can just make out the ladder inside the shaft in the first photo.  Note: As of March 2004, Site 571-4 has been posted as Pima County property, and signs around the perimeter indicate that trespassers will be prosecuted.  Pima County, Arizona.  Photographed May 2003.